Bel Argosy - "Let's Hear It for Bel Argosy" Cassette EP Review (Power Punk)

"Bel Argosy rehearses in the attic of the rectory of an Episcopal church in Harlem, and has therefore never had to directly fend-off of a mid-rehearsal vampire attack." - from the band's bio

For anyone not familiar with Bel Argosy, the band has the grit, energy and authenticity that band’s like The Replacements and the Meat Puppets had on their early releases (...which is sorely missed on these later bands’ most recent discs).

Brooklyn four-piece Bel Argosy released their debut 7", “The Wreck of the Bel Argosy”, just about a year ago and I had described the band’s sound as “melodic garage-rock influenced power-punk that seems to draw from bands like the Ramones and Marbles.” A few months back, the band released a 6-song cassette, “Let’s Hear It for Bel Argosy”, which follows in the same musical vein as their debut but, this time out, I’d also add in comparisons to the Meat Puppets and The Pagans.

The disc starts with "Yer Door" which is a garage punk/Ramones-style number (about a girl – natch) with a great bass line. The next track, "Belle Below Dagger", is a roots-rock number with a sing-along chorus that could have easily come out of the Meat Puppets’ back catalog. "Late to Give Up" goes back to the garage rock of the disc’s opener but adds some wild guitar lines beneath the song’s wall of fuzz. "Cloisterfuck" and “Imago” are power-pop numbers that fall somewhere between The Plimsouls and The Fleshtones but with a good bit more edge. Lastly, “The Lie” is a “bash it out” old-school punk number that has the ‘bite’ of The Pagans.

"Let's Hear It for Bel Argosy" is available as a free download or on a vintage matte cassette which features original artwork by Gabrielle Ferrer. This cassette is available for $5 from Jigsaw Records.

I wanted to include a video with this post but, unfortunately, Bel Argosy doesn't seem to play live that much so there aren't a lot of videos on the 'net. This song - "Elevators" - isn't on the new EP but it is a pretty good representation of the band's sound.



Links:
Bel Argosy

Bel Argosy - "The Wreck of the Bel Argosy" 7" Review (Power-Punk)

DOWNLOAD: Bel Argosy - "Into the Distance"

Brooklyn four-piece Bel Argosy are a young and fairly new band but they have a familiar sound that is comparable to some of the late 70's CBGB bands. The band just released their debut 7" - a limited edition (ltd. to 200) vinyl single - which comes with a hand drawn comic by lead singer Billy Lopez. Across the disc's four tracks (9 minutes), the band bashes out melodic garage-rock influenced power-punk that seems to draw from bands like the Ramones and Marbles.

The disc starts with "Into the Distance" which is a 'ragged but right' guitar-driven number with Joey Ramone style vocals and a big chorus. The next track, "P-Centric", follows in a similar vein but the vocals are more upfront and the track has a glam-rock swagger. "Yer Business" is a melodic power-punk number with a nice bass line and "World's Not Me" is an old-school 70's punk number about a girl ("You can f*ck who you want to f*ck and that's cool with the world...but its not alright with me").

"Bel Argosy plays pop-rock-punk songs about a series of imaginary, lazily-composed myths and legends involving stone dog statues, familial curses and elevators. And airports. But don’t worry: There are also a few songs about GIRLS! (Girls – aren’t they the best?) Billy Lopez (vocals, guitar) started the band with Julian Graham (drums), Chris Cumming (bass) and Beau Alessi (lead guitar) in late 2010 after deciding it was probably a good idea to get this sort of thing out of his system before he turned 30." - from the band's bio

These guys have to be a lot of fun live but, unfortunately, there are no shows scheduled at the moment.

Links:
Bel Argosy